LPP questions/discussion

[Dutchie]

You can say about Lerner what you want but the fact is that he is very open about the research he is doing including all the negatives and obstacles of his research. Results are being published in peer reviewed papers. Investors get regular updates and there are teleconferences with investors every month. Lerner is very approachable by phone. Of the Lawson Criterium (temperature*confinement time*density) the long enough confinement time and the minimum temperature has been achieved. The density need to be increased by 10.000 fold. The fact that they have not achieved the right density is due to the impurities in the plasma - mainly tungsten oxide.
With the new Berrylium cathode and anode they hope the impurity issue will be solved

Lerner never states that it is a given that it will work. At this stage is is scientific research based on a theory. There is a possibility of non-accredited investors to participate in this endeavour. Bare in mind that in the category risk-reward of this investment an investment in this falls in the SUPER risk SUPER reward category.
More information can be found here Startup: LPPFusion Embraces Instability

 

[Dutchie]

Eric Lerner is open for Questions next Wednesday 7.30 EST

_______________________________________________________________________________

Join us live Wed. at LPPFusion


Our crowdfunding is off to a good start with $189,000 raised in less than four days. Join us on Wednesday.

Eric Lerner, chief scientist of LPPFusion will be live this

Wednesday 7:30-8:30

at Ask The Chief Scientist, FB Live Event

You do not need to have a Facebook account to view it.

 

[Dutchie]

More than $300K raised so far. However, no more investments in last 24 hours.. We need to give these guys their shot!

LPPFusion | Cheap, safe, and clean energy generator: the power of the sun recreated on Earth | Wefunder

 

[Dutchie]

Almost there..

LPP Fusion is 90% of the way to hitting funding goal | NextBigFuture.com

 

[ggr]

A new quarterly report from LPPfusion is out:
LPPFusion Report February 2, 2018

Highlights: a new world record temperature, high enough to allow Proton-Boron fusion. Switching to Beryllium electrodes. (I am not a physicist, forgive me if I've misinterpreted.)

 

[Lessmog]

A new quarterly report from LPPfusion is out:
LPPFusion Report February 2, 2018

Highlights: a new world record temperature, high enough to allow Proton-Boron fusion. Switching to Beryllium electrodes. (I am not a physicist, forgive me if I've misinterpreted.)

Nor am I a physicist, but I think the energy record was reported in October. From the news letter:

The new results, published in the October issue of the leading peer-reviewed journal Physics of Plasmas, demonstrated the highest confined mean ion energy of any fusion experiment in the world, an ion energy equivalent to a temperature of over 2.5 billion degrees C. This is over 200 times hotter than the center of the sun.​

Exciting, anyway!

(Disclosure: I invested some years ago.)

 

[Bobfitz1]

A new quarterly report from LPPfusion is out:
LPPFusion Report February 2, 2018
Highlights: a new world record temperature, high enough to allow Proton-Boron fusion. Switching to Beryllium electrodes. (I am not a physicist, forgive me if I've misinterpreted.)

LPPFusion's technical approach to fusion seems at this point in time to be the lowest cost design with a chance (should it succeed) to one day produce clean fusion energy at a cost that would be substantially less than PV or wind power, even extrapolating their cost reduction curve a number of years into the future. Having expended $5 million to date on their research device, LPP Fusion currently ranks 2nd in fusion efficiency among all private and government funded fusion projects. Only slightly behind the Joint European Torus (JET) efficiency record. Fusion efficiency is a measure of the fusion output energy produced by a test run divided by the input energy expended to produce that much fusion. A short but excellent summary of LPPFusion's technology, results and plans can be found at LPPFusion | Cheap, safe, and clean energy generator: the power of the sun recreated on Earth | Wefunder .

(Disclosure: I invested in LPPFusion some years ago as a bet on a company with a chance for a fusion tech breakthrough that could produce clean, distributed energy at such a low cost it could greatly accelerate reductions in global CO2 emissions. Research successes since then suggest improved chances for such a breakthrough. Wefunder is a site bringing together small investors with small companies raising capital for potentially beneficial advances.)

 

[Lessmog]

Some of you may have seen this already: MIT and Commonwealth startup add a new twist to the commercial fusion race
(via Alan @b0yle )
ENI throwing money and superconductors at the problem. (I thought that had been tried?)
I can't use Disqus so unable to comment on Geekwire myself.

 

[BillO]

Some of you may have seen this already: MIT and Commonwealth startup add a new twist to the commercial fusion race
(via Alan @b0yle )
ENI throwing money and superconductors at the problem. (I thought that had been tried?)
I can't use Disqus so unable to comment on Geekwire myself.

Nice story. ITER is the first (I think) fusion reactor that uses superconducting magnets, but this one uses a new higher-temperature superconducting material that makes a stronger magnetic field (4x). This allows a much smaller plasma to make net-positive energy, which makes the whole machine smaller, cheaper, and more manageable. This is good.

The article didn’t say explicitly what fuel they will use, but implied it will be D-T, the same as ITER. Thus it will have the same problems with irradiation (and the potential to make weapons material) and tritium production and management, as well as being limited in electricity generation efficiency (steam powered turbine generators).

 

[Bobfitz1]

Nice story. ITER is the first (I think) fusion reactor that uses superconducting magnets, but this one uses a new higher-temperature superconducting material that makes a stronger magnetic field (4x). This allows a much smaller plasma to make net-positive energy, which makes the whole machine smaller, cheaper, and more manageable. This is good.
The article didn’t say explicitly what fuel they will use, but implied it will be D-T, the same as ITER. Thus it will have the same problems with irradiation (and the potential to make weapons material) and tritium production and management, as well as being limited in electricity generation efficiency (steam powered turbine generators).

There are quite a few tokamak fusion projects around the world using or planning to use superconducting magnets. Tokamak Energy is one, EAST tokamak in China another. Lockheed Martin fusion device probably does too. These smaller scale machines are worth exploring (unlike ITER the biggest science boondoggle of all time) but as you point out, any tokamak design using D-T (pretty much the only fuel they can use) has many problems to overcome even if they manage to produce net energy in a test machine. Aneutronic fuels like pB11 (hydrogen boron) are inherently cleaner and don't make the device radioactive. The plasma temperatures needed to use pB11 are much greater than tokamaks can produce. If the still smaller and much less expensive dense plasma focus LPP is developing continues making progress, it should reach break even before tokamak devices. The problem for fusion projects hoping to commercialize in 10 to 15 years is their devices are still too large and complex to compete with solar PV and wind ten or more years down the line. Each year their costs continue to come down. We may see net energy reached by a few projects in the coming years, yet never see them commercialized due to the economics not working.

 

[BillO]

Wow, Tokamak Energy looks very interesting, I had not heard of them. But if LPP can make pB11 fusion work in the DPF, that would clearly be vastly superior to any tokamak reactor.

 

[Dutchie]

For those interested this is a great documentary about the status of fusion Watch Let There Be Light Online | Vimeo On Demand

Also for $1000 minimum one can buy shares in LPPFusion. The campaign is going very well as almost $630.000 has been raised so far. LPPFusion | Cheap, safe, and clean energy generator: the power of the sun recreated on Earth | Wefunder

 

[Dutchie]

The Wefunder campaign ends April 30. LPPFusion | Cheap, safe, and clean energy generator: the power of the sun recreated on Earth | Wefunder

 

[Dutchie]

The film "Let There be Light" which features LPP Fusion is on the documentary channel tonight. Let There Be Light If you do not have that you can also see it on Amazon Prime

 

[Dutchie]

New campaign under way with couple of spots open fir non-accredited investors (minimum $1,000 investment). They have made some great progress lately. Please check out their website, what others are saying and the Q&A. What I like is that they are very open and approachable.

Invest in LPPFusion: Cheap, safe, and clean energy generator: the power of the sun recreated on Earth on @wefunder

 

[JRP3]

Not liking their misinformation about renewable energy sources in their promotional video.

 

[Bobfitz1]

Not liking their misinformation about renewable energy sources in their promotional video.

@JRP3 , I agree there is some misinformation about renewables in the video that ought to be fixed. But I believe it is motivated by the desire to show why their ultra low cost fusion technology deserves to be funded for the same clean energy, climate change reasons solar and wind have been funded and subsidized. They need better information on how much the costs of solar and wind have declined and how battery storage costs are high but steadily declining as well, to make their case without any factually incorrect statements about renewables.

As long as solar PV and wind are replacing up to some significant portion of the total electric supply mix, I think it is appropriate to compare their costs vs fossil fuel generation without including battery storage costs. However, that % will reach a point where those battery costs must be factored in to the economics of replacing the last 40 or 50%. I don't know how many MWh of battery storage will be needed to make 100% renewable grid supplies work as needed. I'm pretty sure it will be massive and costly even assuming battery costs eventually become 1/5 or 1/10th what they are today.

Unlike ITER or most private fusion approaches which (if they work) will require huge costly generating plants (which will be uncompetitive with renewables + storage), LPPFusions plasma focus with hydrogen boron fuel and direct conversion has the potential to be cheaper than solar/wind w storage. The video's claim that such generators would be far cheaper per MW than wind or solar could turn out to be true, although it ought to be better qualified. A mass produced fusion generator producing 5MW that can fit in a 20' x 20' foot room may be much less costly than a giant 5 MW wind turbine plus battery storage. It could also be located very close to where it's power would be used, not hundreds or thousands of miles away.

Fusion may or may not ever be commercially practical. Renewables and battery storage surely can over several decades replace all fossil fuel use and doing so must be the world's top priority. However that should not prevent government and private investors from making small investments on promising long shots that might get the world to zero fossil fuel use faster. ITER and other costly fusion technologies are not worthy of such investment because even if they do work someday they will never be lower cost than renewables with storage. I think we all agree that getting to zero as fast as possible is vital to avoid climate change worst case outcomes.

 

[nwdiver]

LPP's timeline is:
Proof of hydrogen-boron ignition: 1-2 years
Design of a prototype fusion generator: 4 more years
Preparation for mass-production by nonexclusive licensees: 2 more years

Did they get their fusion generator 2 years ago and I missed it?

 

[Lessmog]

Did they get their fusion generator 2 years ago and I missed it?

Haha. Maybe. It seems to be far ahead of ITER et al in any case, plus those are all radioactive. LPP is not.

Funding has been a bottleneck. Did you contribute? I did, a little bit. I know it's a long shot, but the potential is clearly there. The present problem seems to be various minuscule contaminations impeding the build up of a hot plasma knot, and some parasitic oscillations in the ignition pulse also disturb.

Still holding out a glimmer of hope that my small seed investment is not lost forever. And if so, at least we tried.

BTW, what are those PV elements in your avatar?

 

[Dutchie]

Haha. Maybe. It seems to be far ahead of ITER et al in any case, plus those are all radioactive. LPP is not.

Funding has been a bottleneck. Did you contribute? I did, a little bit. I know it's a long shot, but the potential is clearly there. The present problem seems to be various minuscule contaminations impeding the build up of a hot plasma knot, and some parasitic oscillations in the ignition pulse also disturb.

Still holding out a glimmer of hope that my small seed investment is not lost forever. And if so, at least we tried.

BTW, what are those PV elements in your avatar?

Your investment is probably not lost forever as they have a plan B. This is using the Dense Plasma Focus device as high energy X-Ray machine to be used in public works like roads and viaducts. It is proven that this device will work in that regard. They have already interest from various states but are looking a partner who can manufacture them.

PS I also invested in this. I see it as a lottery ticket with the odds and pay-out better than a lottery